China steps in as the Quad fades away

WHILE having lunch with an Asian diplomat a couple of weeks ago, I happened to mention the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue - which comprises the United States, Japan, India and Australia; and is commonly known as the Quad. That on-and-off security dialogue focused on China when it started 2007, and was seen as the democratic countries' response to China's increasingly assertive rise. The dialogue ended when Australia pulled out; but, after a 10-year hiatus, it was revived in 2017 when the free and open Indo-Pacific strategy was launched.

The term Indo-Pacific was introduced into the vocabulary of US President Donald Trump and other Pacific leaders to replace "Asia-Pacific" to make it clear that India, and the Indian Ocean, are part and parcel of the security interest of these countries. In June, the United States announced that the US Pacific Command had been renamed the US Indo-Pacific Command.

Given this background, it was a little surprising to hear my lunch companion chuckle and respond: "Only the United States and Australia are left in the Quad. India and Japan are gone."